Stair-carpet retainer



W. W. PHILLIPS.

STAIR CARPET RETAINER.

APPLICATION HLED Fim-2o. 1920.

' Patented Oct. 12, 1920,

Y WT/VESSES W. W. PHILLIPS.

STAIR CARPET RETAINER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.20. 1920.

1,355,775, Patented 0@t.12,192o.

2 SHEETS-SHEET. 2.

l/VVE/VTR y WALTER MPH/LL/P A TTORNEYS UNITED STATES WALTER W. PHILLIPS,or JERSEY CITY,VNEw JERSEY. i

STAIR-CARPET RETAINER.

To all w tem t may concern.

Be it lrnown that I, WALTER W. PHILLIPS,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident holding devices.

of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, haveinvented a new and Improved Stair-Carpet Retainer, of which thefollowing'is full, clear, and exact description. V

This invention relates to carpet retainers especially adapted for use onstair steps and has particular 'reference to devices of the generalnature set forth inALetters Patent of the United States No. 1,091,862,issued to me on the 31st day of March, 1914.

Among the objects of the present inve'n tion is to pro-vide a retainerfor stair carpets that will be held iii-place with more reliability andso will hold the carpet more securely in proper alinement than in mypreviously patented device, by reason of certain auxiliary metallicattachments for the main With the foregoing and other objects in viewthe invention consists in the arrangement and combination of partshereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is notrestricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggestedherein, Still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodimentthereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which likereference characters designate the same parts in the several views, andin which-d Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section of stairsindicating one form of my improvement in yuse thereon.

Fig..2 is a vertical sectionalview of the same on the line 2 2.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a sectionv of stairs with a modificationof my improvement in use thereon. v

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

` Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front elevation of a further modification. l

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of a form of attachment clip shownin Fig. 5.

Referring now more specifically to the first two figures I show myimprovement as including a pair of metallic holders in the form of plugs10 adapted to be secured rigidly in the riser 11 and just below the nextupper tread 12. These plugs 10 have horizontal holes 10 extending inwardfrom the face of the riser into which the right angularly bent ends 13of the vertical leg Y Specification of Iietters Patent. i Patented OctA12, 1920.

App1icaton filed February 20, `1920. Serial No. 360,039.

portions 14 ofthe carpet retainer 15 are adapted to be projected whenthe retainer is compressedl and put under sufficient force for thepurpose for which it is intended. rIlhe horizontal bar extending betweenthe leg portions 14 co-perates with the runv of the carpet to hold it inthe corner between the riser and the tread vof the next lower step asset forth in my previous patent. It will lbe understood that theretainer as la whole has sufficient strength and flexibilityV not onlyto adapt itself to its function but also to be self-retaining.l As willbe under- 10, and so the legsv cannot be drawn bodily f forward.Consequently the retainer will be 1 held firmly in place by reason ofthe plugs. Then it is'desired, however, to detach the retainers theoperator will apply a screw driver or other similar tool to the upperends of the legs for the purpose of releasing the ends 13 from the holes10 of the plugs. vVhen thus set free from the plugs the retainer'will ofcourse be free to be removed from the carpet.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I show a retainer comprising a bar 15 and upright legs14, the same terminating in points 16 which engage beneath theoverhanging portion of the next upper tread as in my previous patent,but I have found that it is desirable to provide auxiliary means toprevent the tendency for the carpet to draw forward upon the bar 15, acondition which naturally would result in the loosening of the points ofcontact with the next higher tread. To accomplish this in another wayfrom that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I provide a pawl 17pivoted vupon theend portions of the bar 15 adjacent to the bends leading into the legs14, and hence just at the edges of the carpet. These pawls are adaptedtorotate freely on the bar 15 and Vhave downwardly projecting pointswhich engage automatically with the upper surface of the adjacent treadand so prevent the forward movement of the bar 15. Any tendency of thecarpet to draw forward will be resisted immediately by the bar, and thebar will be heldl from such forward movement by the pawls. These pawlscannot turn relatively around the bar 15 so long as lefts and preferablyin the forni of angle members, the outer vertical edge portion of whichis provided with a swaged form at 19, the swaging extending around thecorner and adapted to receive the upper end 13 of each leg which isshown as being bent toward the opposite leg and in a plane parallel tothe vertical plane ofthe riser to which the Y socket members 18 areadapted to be secured rigidly as by means of screws 20. The sockets intowhich the ends 13 are fitted may be open at the sides so that the endsof the legs may be snapped into the same from the opposite sides of thesocket members, but when so inserted the legs and bar 15 connecting themwill be held rigidly from forward movement along the next lower tread.Obviously, however, to remove these retainers to release the carpet theoperator simply has to draw the upper ends of the legs laterally frombeneath the socket members against the rigidity of the legs and so theretainers will be released.

1 I claim:

1. In a stair carpet retainer, the combination with a bar adapted toengage over the carpet and leg portions at the ends of the bar adaptedto extend between the carpet and the surface of the'next upper riser, ofauxiliary metallic means coperating with the leg portions ofthe retainerand said riser to hold the retainer in retaining position.

2. A stair carpet retainer of the nature set forth in claim 1 in whichsaid auxiliary holding means coperates with the stair Structure and theends of theleg portions remote from the bar. 4

3. A stair carpet -retainer of *the nature set forth in claim 1 in whichthe ends of the leg portions arebent at an angle and the auxiliaryholding means consist of metal plates embracing said bent ends holdingthem against the riser.

kWALTER W. PHILLIPS.

